Digital Commons Network^™

Resting-State Connectivity Dynamics In The Human Brain Using High-Speed Fmri, Kishore Vakamudi

Physics & Astronomy ETDs

Resting-state fMRI using seed-based connectivity analysis (SCA) typically involves regression of the confounding signals resulting from movement and physiological noise sources. This not only adds additional complexity to the analysis but may also introduce possible regression bias. We recently introduced a computationally efficient real-time SCA approach without confound regression, which employs sliding-window correlation analysis with running mean and standard deviation (meta-statistics). The present study characterizes the confound tolerance of this windowed seed-based connectivity analysis (wSCA), which combines efficient decorrelation of confounding signal events with high-pass filter characteristics that reduce sensitivity to drifts. The confound suppression and the strength of resting-state …

"The Bellows / Of Experience": The Modernist Love Poem And Its Legacy, Stephanie Spong

English Language and Literature ETDs

The vein of experimental love poetry examined in this project takes advantage of the friction generated by charging both form and content with innovation. The troubled relationship between sex and power is knit directly into the long and dynamic history of love poetry, but there has yet to be a published monograph on the modernist love poem and its implications for literary history. This dissertation fills a major gap in scholarship and speaks to the broader social concerns addressed by public discourse on sex, sexuality, and eros. The body of modernist love poetry includes allusions to traditional love poetry—a tradition …

Developing A Liwc Dictionary: The Lyrical Poetry Of 2pac, Frank Waln, Litefoot, And Nataanii Means, Teresa Y. Neely, Sarah Kostelecky, Monica Etsitty Dorame, Jorge Ricardo López-Mcknight

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

The researchers developed a dictionary, DKL-MN2016, to use the LIWC (http://liwc.wpengine.com/) software to analyze the lyrics of 4 activist, rapper, hiphop artists who are men of color, to answer two research questions: Do Native American male rappers address socioeconomic issues in their lyrics? and How does the lyrical content of Native American male rappers compare Tupac Shakur’s lyrical content written before 1996?

Inlp Newsletter, August 2016, Indigenous Nations Library Program

Monthly Newsletters

Contents:

- Welcome Back

- Welcome Back Week!

- Revised Hours!

- The Art of Indigenous Scholarship: Celebrating the Contributions of Indigenous Faculty at UNM

- Student Spotlight: Raelene Charley

- Introduction to Research Guides

- New Scholarly Resources

- Who Speaks Wukchumni?

Perceptions Of Reversible And Permanent Contraception In India, Neha Rani Bhardwaj

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Background: In 1951 India became the first country to launch a national family planning program focused on promoting reversible and permanent contraception including financial incentives for both method acceptors and providers. Despite governmental provision of the copper intrauterine device (IUD), oral contraceptive pills (OCP) and condoms at no cost, most Indian women choose permanent sterilization after completing childbearing. Whether the predominance of sterilization stemmed from Indian men and women’s desire for permanent contraception, from deficient knowledge and access to reversible methods, from public health messages and established norms, or from coercion in the form of incentives is unknown. Objectives: The …

Governing Through Malaria: Biopolitics, Health Discourses, And Mining/Border Communities In Post-Colonial Suriname, Javier Eli Astorga

Latin American Studies ETDs

This research work investigated how emerging health discourses on malaria are revamping colonial legacies and turning them into structural violence in contemporary Suriname. By critically surveying the colonial past and ongoing post-colonial transitioning in Suriname, using a biopolitics-theory approach and recent medical anthropology to depict health discourses and structural violence, and tapping on the field of Critical Discourse Analysis as ethnomethodology, thirteen medical reports--issued from 2010 to 2014--were examined in order to demonstrate how a discourse of exclusion, inequality, and 'social wrong' endures colonial violence in post-colonial Suriname. Throughout the examination of these contentious medical reports produced by operative medical …

The Influence Of Beaver Activity On Modern And Holocene Fluvial Landscape Dynamics In Southwestern Montana, Rebekah Levine

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Beaver dams effectively trap sediment in stream channels, leading to the hypothesis that persistent beaver damming on millennial timescales causes valley floor aggradation. The available field data, however, are inconclusive. I investigated modern and Holocene beaver-related deposition to understand beaver contributions to fluvial dynamics on multiple timescales in one stream system. Field investigations were conducted on Red Rock and Odell Creeks at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, Centennial Valley, Montana, documenting patterns of sediment storage at 4 stages of beaver damming in the modern channel (1) active; (2) transition from active to breached; (3) breached within the last decade; …

Co2 Flux Along Faults Of The Central Rio Grande Rift, New Mexico, Jared Smith

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The Albuquerque basin, a part of the central Rio Grande rift, is host to a complex fault network that influences deep and shallow fluid migration. This study examines CO2 flux along these faults at the northern and western borders with the Valles caldera and San Juan basin, using a CO2 flux device with an accumulation chamber (PP-Systems). These major and minor Quaternary faults have damage zones that can influence CO2 degassing, hydrocarbon migration, and groundwater flow and mixing, including geothermal waters related to the Valles caldera geothermal system, ultimately acting as conduits or barriers to fluid flow. Rift systems are …

Unm Pathology Pathfinder Summer 2016, Unm Department Of Pathology

Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Rural, Cultural & Global Health: As Seen Through The Eyes Of Doctoral Students At The University Of New Mexico, Priscella Correa, Kimberly Hartson, Jennifer L. Heck, Elizabeth Holguin, Jenny Landen, Angela Ortiz, Michael Palacio, Keri Roden, Krista Scorsone

Global, Rural, & Cultural Health Book Series

When our early UNM College of Nursing PhD students wrote Volumes 1-3 of this compilation a decade ago, our program was new and growing, and most of the students lived here in New Mexico or in neighboring states. Much has changed since the initial volumes emerged from our course entitled Rural and Cultural Health (Nursing 611), a graduate elective. The world has embraced enormous linkages through technology. Refugee and migration patterns the world over have more people displaced and seeking a permanent home than ever before. International, national, regional and local contexts, conflicts, politics, health-related policies, economic struggles, racial/ethnic diversity, …

Development Of Organocatalytic Reactions For The Assembly Of Complex Molecules, Chenguang Yu

Chemistry and Chemical Biology ETDs

Development of efficient organocatalytic reactions for the facile assembly of synthetically and medicinally useful molecules is an important task in modern organic synthesis. Towards this end, my Ph. D. study focuses on the development of novel organocatalytic reactions for the construction of structurally diverse molecular architectures. A chiral bifunctional amine thiourea as promoter has been developed as an efficient solution to a long standing challenging issue in atropo-enantioselective transesterification of the Bringmann lactones. This organocatalytic approach delivers the first highly enantioselective, high yielding dynamic kinetic resolution process for the preparation of axially chiral biaryl compounds with a broad substrate scope …

Daubert On The Brain: How New Mexico’S Daubert Standard Should Inform Its Handling Of Neuroimaging Evidence, Jason P. Kerkmans, Lynn M. Gaudet

New Mexico Law Review

Part I of this article reviews the expert evidence admissibility standard set forth in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharm., Inc. and New Mexico’s adoption of the Daubert standard in State v. Alberico.2 Part II of the article provides a summary of the framework expressed in the 2014 publication Group to Individual (G2i) Inference in Scientific Expert Testimony.3 Part III explores case law where DNA testing was considered as evidence and why the courts have concluded that DNA evidence complies with Daubert/Alberico standards. Part IV provides a summary of the use of euroimaging evidence in court and provides an overview of …

Molecular Structure And Exciton Dynamics In Organic Conjugated Polymers, Alan K. Thomas

Chemistry and Chemical Biology ETDs

Intermolecular electronic interactions, dipole coupling and orbital overlap, caused by π-π stacking in organic conjugated polymers lead to unique structures and properties that can be harnessed for optoelectronic applications. These interactions define structure-function relationships in amorphous and aggregated forms of polymers in the solid state and determine their efficiencies and functionality in electronic devices, from transistors to solar cells. Organic polymer electronic device performance depends critically upon electronic coupling between monomer units --mediated by conformation and packing characteristics -- that dictates electronic properties like conductivity and capacitance as well as electronic processes, such as charge carrier generation and transport. This …

Patterns In Richness And Community Structure: From Bacteria To Apex Predators, Ara S. Winter

Biology ETDs

Patterns of community structure and richness provide context for studies from microbial ecology, global macroecology, languages, to Bayesian statistics. Diversity patterns for animals on land and their predictor variables are well studied. However, diversity patterns for bacterial communities and marine macroorganisms are not well studied or understood. Here I examine diversity patterns in caves, on the external surface of Chiroptera (bats), and in marine ecosystems. At the local to regional scale we investigate factors that drive bacterial community patterns in richness and composition in lava cave microbial mats and microbes on bats. Lastly, out of the cave and into the …

Coevolving Histories Inside And Out: Phylogenetics, Comparative Parasitology, And Host Affinities Of Chipmunk Sucking Lice And Pinworms, Kayce C. Bell

Biology ETDs

Diversification of parasite species, in light of their host association, is an area ripe for testing hypotheses of evolution when one species requires another for survival. The 23 species of western North American chipmunks (genus Tamias) host two species of ectoparasitic sucking lice (Anoplura) and two species of endoparasitic pinworms (Nematoda). I used a phylogenetic approach to investigate the evolutionary histories of the parasites in light of the hosts and the landscape. In comparing the parasites, I found that the two pinworm species have similar diversification patterns, linked to hosts, but those processes occurred on different time scales. As another …

Energetics Across Ecological Scales, John M. Grady

Biology ETDs

Energy is a common currency of ecological interactions. In this dissertation, I consider ecological energetics at different temporal, spatial and organizational scales. In my first chapter, I examine the energetics and thermoregulation of an enigmatic taxon: dinosaurs. From fossil evidence and assessment of living vertebrates I conclude that many non-avian dinosaurs were likely thermally intermediate, or 'mesothermic'. In my second chapter I detail the empirical evidence gathered to buttress my claim of dinosaur mesothermy. In my third chapter, I show how ecosystem rates of carbon flux, gross primary production and total biomass can be linked to individual body size. In …

Altitudinal Gradients Do Not Predict Plant-Symbiont Responses To Experimental Warming, Melanie R. Kazenel

Biology ETDs

Fungal symbionts, ubiquitous inhabitants of above- and belowground plant tissues, can play important roles in increasing plant tolerance to abiotic and biotic stress. Disruption of plant-fungal interactions may therefore have important consequences for plant responses to climate change. Both altitudinal gradients and warming experiments can be useful tools for understanding responses of symbioses to climate shifts, but the degree to which altitudinal patterns will predict species responses to warming has received little attention for plant-symbiont interactions. This study combined surveys along replicated altitudinal gradients with a long-term warming experiment at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL) in Colorado, USA to …

Phylogenetics And Diversification Of Whirligig Beetles (Coleoptera, Gyrinidae), Grey Thomas Gustafson

Biology ETDs

Whirligig beetles are a family of aquatic beetles with an estimated 1,000 species distributed globally. Phylogenetic analysis incorporating molecular data has only recently been conducted on the family and many genera have never received modern taxonomic revision. The first chapter of the dissertation provides a taxonomic revision of the Southeast Asian whirligig beetle genus Porrorhynchus, finding the genus to contain 5 species, and no support for the numerous proposed subspecies. For the second chapter a phylogenetic analysis utilizing the most novel phylogenetic reconstructions methods incorporating the new Fossilized Birth-Death macroevolutionary model implemented in the program MrBayes 3.2.6 was conducted on …

Experimental Drought And Soil Depth Interactively Influence Fungal Community Composition In Piñon-Juniper Woodland, Eric Olivas

Biology ETDs

Drought can flip ecosystems between states and in the process alter key systems such as plant biomass and carbon balance. Many drought-related studies have focused on plant responses or charismatic megafauna. Less work has addressed drought in the context of aboveground-belowground feedbacks. Impacts of drought are increasing, particularly in arid environments such as the southwestern United States. Major tree species of these regions, such as piñon pine, are adapted to a wetter and more predictable climate than the projected future climate. The effects of drought on piñon and its ectomycorrhizae have been studied observationally and in laboratories. Soil depth has …

Mammals Of The Greater Gila Region, Amanda K. Jones

Biology ETDs

The Greater Gila Region is an important area for study of mammals due to its unique physiographic history, leading to high elevational relief and many associated habitats. Due to the variety of habitats, the Gila is home to a very diverse assemblage of mammal fauna: 100 native species, 95 of which are extant in the region. This paper documents these species' current and historic distributions, taxonomy, habitat affinities, current phylogeographic studies, reproductive timing, and any other pertinent information. In addition, novel phylogeographic studies for four selected species were performed to fill in gaps in previous studies where Gila sampling was …

A Multidimensional Investigation Of The Niche: Geographic Distributions, Body Size, And Interspecific Interactions Of Late Quaternary North American Canidae, Melissa Irene Pardi

Biology ETDs

A pressing conservation challenge is understanding how organisms will be impacted by climate change. From the paleontological record, we know organisms have options when facing change: they can do nothing, move, or adapt. These responses shape an organism's niche (a foundational concept in biology) that is abiotically constrained, but modified by biotic interactions. The greatest disturbances in recent North American geologic history is the human mediated extinction of megafauna ~11,700 years B.P. and climate change following the last glacial period. We used the fossil record to address ecological questions concerning conservationists; our focus was on Canidae and humans. Species distribution …

Exploiting Heterogeneity In Networks Of Aerial And Ground Robotic Agents, Patricio J. Cruz Davalos

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

By taking advantage of complementary communication technologies, distinct sensing functionalities and varied motion dynamics present in a heterogeneous multi-robotic network, it is possible to accomplish a main mission objective by assigning specialized sub-tasks to specific members of a robotic team. An adequate selection of the team members and an effective coordination are some of the challenges to fully exploit the unique capabilities that these types of systems can offer. Motivated by real world applications, we focus on a multi-robotic network consisting off aerial and ground agents which has the potential to provide critical support to humans in complex settings. For …

Twenty-First Century Woodland Archaeology In The Lower Illinois River Valley: A Regional Model, Jason Louis King

Anthropology ETDs

The Lower Illinois River Valley (LIV) has been the subject of over a century of focused archaeological inquiry, resulting in robust body of data with which to investigate the lifeways of ancient indigenous peoples of midcontinental North America. Among the most visible components of this record are the Middle Woodland (50 cal BC-cal AD 400) and Late Woodland (cal 400-1000) assemblages that document an extended period of significant social and demographic transformation of the valley, marked by highly visible monumental architecture, e.g. mounds, and often complex mortuary practices culminating in the disposal of the dead with these monuments. Research reported …

People Of The Sun: Leveraging Electricity Reform To Promote Renewable Energy And Climate Change Mitigation In Mexico, Nicholas S. Bryner

Natural Resources Journal

Human activities that impact the Earth’s climate are driven, in large part, by energy consumption. Advancements in technology, infrastructure, and industry have been made possible by the use of fossil fuels. In recent decades, recognition of climate change and its causes has increased, coinciding with other, sector-wide transitions in energy generation and use. The interconnected nature of climate and energy issues calls for legal and regulatory frameworks that are better able to integrate these two concerns—effective broad-scale policy on climate must engage with the complex system for regulating energy, and forward-thinking changes in energy policy must address climate externalities on …

Evaluation Of The Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Signaling Pathway As A Therapeutic Target In Human Papillomavirus-Associated Disease, Anastacia Maria Griego

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are the most common sexually transmitted infectious agents. They are responsible for >99% of all cervical cancers as well as subsets of other anogenital cancers. HPVs are also the causative agents of a growing number of head and neck cancers. As such, they present a significant health problem both in the U.S. and developing countries. Much is still unknown regarding the factors underlying progression from HPV infection to cancer or maintenance of viral oncoprotein expression following oncogenic transformation. Previous studies reported significant interplay between the epidermal growth factor (EGFR) pathway and HPV oncoproteins. HPV oncoproteins E5, E6, …

Development Of Oligo(P-Phenylene Ehynylene)(Ope) Applications Against Chemical And Biological Threats, Suhyun Yoon

Chemistry and Chemical Biology ETDs

Four new applications of oligo-phenylene ethynylene (OPE) and poly-PE (PPE) compounds for detection and destruction of biological and chemical threats have been investigated. Mixed surfaces composed of PPEs and a thermoswitchable polymer were created, and were shown to be able to capture, kill, and reversibly release pathogenic bacteria. In order to develop fluorescent sensors for CW agents, the spectral changes of OPEs with surfactants and malathion (a simulant for nerve agents) were measured. Formation of OPE-dimers in the presence of surfactants can cause fluorescence enhancement (turn-on) or quenching (turn-off). Among six positive and negative OPEs, only OPEs with ethyl ester …

Reconstructing The Historical Albuquerque Reach Of The Middle Rio Grande To Evaluate The Influence Of River Engineering On Floodplain Inundation, Jourdan Adair

Civil Engineering ETDs

Sustainable floodplain management is essential in achieving a balance between population growth and natural resource protection, especially in the face of climate change. While floodplain development in the Middle Rio Grande Valley has allowed for economic expansion in the region, it has come at a cost to the fragile ecosystem of the Southwest. In this study, the historical Albuquerque reach of the Middle Rio Grande is reconstructed, including floodplain topography, channel characteristics, and land cover from approximately 1918. The impacts of river engineering on flooding events are evaluated by comparing historic and current conditions. Hydrodynamic modeling is first used to …

Advancing The Food-Energy-Water Nexus: Closing Nutrient Loops In Arid River Corridors, Jacob Mortensen

Civil Engineering ETDs

Closing nutrient loops in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems is integral to achieve resource security in the food-energy-water (FEW) nexus. Multiyear (2005-08), monthly samples of instream dissolved inorganic nutrient concentrations (NH4-N, NO3-N, soluble reactive phosphorus-SRP) along a ~300-km of the Rio Grande, NM, USA were used to investigate how the net source/sink behavior of wastewater and irrigated agriculture can be holistically managed to close nutrient loops. Wastewater on average contributed over 90% of the instream dissolved inorganic nutrients (101 kg/day NH4-N, 1097 kg/day NO3-N, 656 kg/day SRP). During growing seasons, the irrigation network downstream of wastewater outfalls retained on average 37% …

Computer-Aided Quantitative Early Diagnosis Of Diabetic Foot, Viktor Chekh

Computer Science ETDs

Diabetes is an incurable metabolic disease characterized by high blood sugar levels. The feet of people with diabetes are at the risk of a variety of pathological consequences including peripheral vascular disease, deformity, ulceration, and ultimately amputation. The key to managing the diabetic foot is prevention and early detection. Unfortunately, current hospital centered reactive diabetes care and the availability of inadequate qualitative diagnostic screening procedures causes physicians to miss the diagnosis in 61% of the patients. We have developed a computer aided diagnostic system for early detection of diabetic foot. The key idea is that diabetic foot exhibits significant neuropathic …

An Evaluation Of P-Phenylene Ethynylenes And Their Interactions With Pathogenic Microbes, Harry Pappas

Nanoscience and Microsystems ETDs

Antibiotics are critical to the welfare of humans domestically and abroad, and their importance cannot be overlooked. However, over the past century, the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and fungi has warranted the investigation of alternative antimicrobials and decontamination strategies. Recently, a new class of antimicrobial has come into view and appears to offer promise in our ongoing defense against pathogenic microbes. These compounds, known as p-phenylene ethynylenes, fundamentally differ from traditional antibiotics in that they are "light-activated" and deal broad-spectrum damage in a detergent-like manner. Despite the promise of these compounds, there was up until recently good reason to believe …